Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift references in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
